Toy system of hexagonal tiles, which may be interlocking or may be joined by magnets or other means, with path patterns on the tiles that can be made into continuous paths on joined tiles; the paths mav have grooves or rails, so a propelled vehicle may follow the paths

ABSTRACT

This application discloses a new toy track system based on hexagonal tiles. This unique system allows for pleasing and complex track layouts in a small area. The layout activity itself can be viewed as a puzzle or game. The track tiles may be joined to one another by puzzle tabs or by magnets along their edges. The track, whether slot or other construction, follows arcs on the hexagons joining midpoints of the hexagon edges. The tile designs are chosen from the unique set of tile designs having such arcs that cross at most once on a single tile.

SYNOPSIS

This is a system of hexagonal tiles. The tiles have specific pathpatterns on them, which differs among the tiles, but which connects toform a continuous path when the tiles are joined with one another. Alongthis path is a groove, rail, line, or other construct which serves toguided a toy vehicle along the path. The vehicle may be powered bybattery, solar power, a wind up spring, or other means. The tiles may bejoined to one another by some method, such as magnets embedded along theedges of the tiles, or by an interlocking puzzle pattern along theedges. The pattern of the paths on the tiles may be designed to beginand end at midpoints of the tile edges, and paths of combined tiles canrepresent any topological pattern.

DESCRIPTION

More detail on the method for connecting the tiles. Methods include:

a) Puzzle tabs and receptors along the edges of the tiles (alsosometimes referred to as male and female geometrical shapes) There are,of course, an infinite number of possible geometries for the puzzle tabsand receptors if we are precise about the shapes. Possible arrangementsfor tabs and receptors:

I. Rotational symmetry by 60 degrees, a male(s) and female(s) on eachside of the hexagon. (FIG. I).

2. Rotational symmetry by 120 degrees, each side having either two maleor two female shapes. (FIG. 2).

3. Rotational symmetry by 60 degrees, where each tile has a female shapeat each vertex. The tiles are then connected by another shape, which hasa threefold symmetry, with three male shapes for the up to threehexagons which meet at a vertex. (FIGS. 3 and 4).

b) The tiles may have straight hexagonal edges, and be connected bymagnets which are arranged so that the tiles are attracted to oneanother and align edge to edge. (FIG. 5).

The tiles may have the path designs with grooves on both the largerplanar faces of the tiles (top and bottom of a tile laying on asurface).

The groove can be made graphically distinctive in some way. The groovemight be a different color than the surface of the tile. In the figuresthe small grooves on either side of the central path groove are merelydecorative and may or may not be included. A stripe might be contrastcolored, wider than the groove, with the groove as its center curve.

The paths connect at the midpoints of the tile edges when the tiles areplaced in alignment. Some of the paths may be sections of circles, withradius chosen so that the curves meet the hexagon edges in aperpendicular fashion. They may be other the simple curves with thisproperty. They may be sections of straight line. The paths may cross(FIGS. 2 and 6), and at the crossing it may be graphically displayed togive the sense that one curve passes over the other. FIG. 6 displayspossible path designs.

The tiles may be made of wood, or plastic, a metal, or some othermaterial. The tiles can be made in a variety of sizes. But the size issuch that the tiles can be manipulated by hand and placed on a table orother flat surface, diameter of approximately I to 6 inches, withthickness proportional so they are tile-like, as in the figures. And alarger scale version, meant for the floor, which could be made of foamor other material, with diameter 6 inches or more also.

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FIGURES

FIG. I. Puzzle tab tile with rotational symmetry by 60 degrees, amale(s) and female(s) connection on each side of the hexagon. On thetile is a slot track, which here is a section of a circle, connectingthe midpoints of two sides of the hexagon.

The deeper central slot of the circle path is the functional slot, thetwo shallower slots to either side of it are merely decorative, and arenot necessary. This is also the case in the other figures.

FIG. 2. Puzzle tab tile with rotational symmetry by 120 degrees, eachside having either two male or two female shapes. On the tile are twoslot paths, each one a section of circle. The paths cross.

FIG. 3. Puzzle tile with rotational symmetry by 60 degrees, where thetile has a female shape at each vertex. The tiles are then connected byanother shape, depicted in FIG. 4. On the tile is a slot track, whichhere is a section of a circle, connecting the midpoints of two sides ofthe hexagon.

FIG. 4. Connecting shape for tiles depicted in FIG. 3. The shape has athreefold symmetry, with three male shapes for the up to three hexagonswhich meet at a vertex.

FIG. 5. This hexagonal tile has straight hexagonal edges, and isconnected to other tiles by magnets which are embedded along the edgesand arranged so that the tiles are attracted to one another and thetiles align edge to edge. On the tile are three slot paths, each one asection of circle.

FIG. 6. This is the set of possible path designs, where the pathsconnect the centers of edges, each path component is a section of circle(other simple curves could be used) or a straight line segment, and atmost one crossing per tile is allowed.

1. hexagonal tiles, with markings or grooves or rails or other constructdesignating a path, such that the paths may be made continuous from tileto tile when the tiles are placed next to one another, connecting withpuzzle tabs.
 2. hexagonal tiles, with markings or grooves or rails orother construct designating a path, such that the paths may be madecontinuous from tile to tile when the tiles are placed next to oneanother, connecting with magnets along the edges of the tiles 3.hexagonal tiles, with markings or grooves or rails or other constructdesignating a path, such that the paths may be made continuous from tileto tile when the tiles are placed next to one another, together withtiles of other shapes which serve as connectors for the hexagonal tiles,connecting with puzzle tabs.
 4. hexagonal tiles, with markings orgrooves or rails or other construct designating a path, such that thepaths may be made continuous from tile to tile when the tiles are placednext to one another, such that a vehicle may be guided along the path.5. the set of hexagonal tiles, with markings or grooves or rails orother construct designating a path on each tile, with paths intersectingthe edges of the hexagons at the center of the edges perpendicularly,where the paths are either straight line segments or segments ofcircles, each tile having zero, one, two, or three paths, where thepaths on each tile cross other paths on that tile at most once.
 6. asubset of the tiles in claim
 5. 7. the set of hexagonal tiles, withmarkings or grooves or rails or other construct designating a path oneach tile, with paths intersecting the edges of the hexagons at thecenter of the edges perpendicularly, each tile having one, two, or threepaths, where the paths on each tile cross other paths on that tile atmost once.
 8. a subset of the tiles in claim
 7. 9. A system of tilessatisfying claims 1 and
 4. 10. A system of tiles satisfying claims 2 and4.
 11. A system of tiles satisfying claims 3 and
 4. 12. A system oftiles satisfying claims 1, 4,
 5. 13. A system of tiles satisfying claims2, 4,
 5. 14. A system of tiles satisfying claims 3, 4,
 5. 12. A systemof tiles satisfying claims 1, 4,
 6. 13. A system of tiles satisfyingclaims 2, 4,
 6. 14. A system of tiles satisfying claims 3, 4,
 6. 15. Asystem of tiles satisfying claims 1, 4,
 7. 16. A system of tilessatisfying claims 2, 4,
 7. 17. A system of tiles satisfying claims 3, 4,7.
 18. A system of tiles satisfying claims 1, 4,
 8. 19. A system oftiles satisfying claims 2, 4,
 8. 20. A system of tiles satisfying claims3, 4, 8.